Women leaders have less written about them in the Bible, despite their significant impact for the Lord. Do you remember Sheerah, a woman hero of the Bible? If not, don’t feel bad. She only shows up in one verse in the genealogies of 1 Chronicles, chapter seven. She is either the daughter or granddaughter of Ephraim. The Scriptures speak of Ephraim’s son Beriah and then say “he had a daughter named Sheerah,” so we cannot affirm which man is her dad. Either way, Sheerah is an amazing woman and direct descendant of godly Joseph.
1 Chron. 7:20 -24 reveals her family: “The descendants of Ephraim: Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, Zabad his son and Shuthelah his son. Ezer and Elead were killed by the native-born men of Gath, when they went down to seize their livestock. Their father Ephraim mourned for them many days, and his relatives came to comfort him. Then he made love to his wife again, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. He named him Beriah, because there had been misfortune in his family. He had a daughter named Sheerah. She built the towns of Lower and Upper Beth-horon and Uzzen-sheerah.”
Ephraim was born in Egypt, and most likely so was his son Beriah and likely also Sheerah (his daughter or granddaughter.) Yet she traveled to Canaan, because she built her three cities there. At least two sons of Ephraim (her brothers or uncles) also lived in Canaan, because 1 Chronicles 7:21–22 mentions they were later killed in Canaan, not in Egypt.
Some may be surprised to think of Ephraim or his children living in Canaan, because Scriptures mention the Israelites who stayed in Egypt for four centuries. But Jacob’s family was allowed to travel out of Egypt, because they left it to go back to Canaan when Jacob died and was buried there (Gens.50:12-14.) So Ephraim’s family could travel to Canaan freely.
We cannot be sure if the men of Gath attacked Ephraim’s two youngest sons, or if they attacked the men of Gath. One of those two groups attempted to steal cattle (1 Chr 7:21–23), and Ephraim’s sons Ezer and Elead were killed. But Ephraim sought comfort from his wife, and she conceived and bore the next son, Beriah, and his name comes from the preposition “be” (“in” or “with”) and the noun “ra-ah” (“calamity” or “misfortune”). His name points to some kind of calamity, though we cannot be sure if it was a divine punishment. And remember Ephraim himself is a son named for a calamity, because Joseph chose the name Ephraim, ‘For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction’” (Genesis 41:50-52 ESV) and Ephraim means “to forget.” Joseph suffered terrible affliction being sold as a slave, falsely accused and imprisoned before he was finally set free.
Ephraim suffered after the attack and murder of his sons, so the birth of his next son, Beriah, should have brought joy, but instead Ephraim gave him a name that spoke of the disaster (since Beriah means “disaster has befallen.”) Yet when Sheerah comes along as a daughter or granddaughter of Ephraim, she receives a name that means “flesh” or “relative,” a name having nothing to do with disaster, and her life did not speak of disaster either. Instead her life brought hope through her continual building of three cities. Even her younger brother, Rephah (1 Chr 7:25), had a name of hope since his name means “to heal” or “healing/restoration.” Yet it is not he who restores things but rather his older sister, Sheerah. Only her achievement is mentioned, and no accomplishments of any other descendant of Ephraim. Perhaps this is why God mentioned her.
Sheerah believed in God’s promises, because she did not build her cities in Egypt the homeland of Ephraim, (her dad or granddad) but in the promised land, a place of blessing, promised to her ancestor of long ago—Abraham. We see in Genesis 17:8 “The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” God also promised this to Jacob, Genesis 48:8 “I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and I will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.” And in Genesis 49, Jacob blessed Joseph, so Sheerah must have known about these blessings. She acted upon her faith that the promised land of Canaan was hers and her ancestors, so she built there. And remember, Romans 4:13 says, “Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s laws, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.” Sheerah built those cities based upon the faith she had in God’s promise to her and her ancestors.
We also know the cities did not require a man to build them, because Sheerah had brothers, yet none of them did the building—not Beriah’s oldest child nor any of his sons. Instead, a middle child, a daughter does this, and Scripture tells of no other woman who built cities except Sheerah.
God used Scripture, in this genealogy, to honor a woman in a family where her father and siblings did not accomplish anything noteworthy. She may be unknown to many people who overlook her one-verse story, but God clearly wanted us to remember and honor her for her work. She is not invisible to the Lord.
Joseph, Sheerah’s great grandfather lived in tents growing up, yet his great-granddaughter built a city that would help to protect her family, especially since her older brothers had been killed, either when they went marauding or by marauders who came to her family. She was providing a place of safety to a family that had suffered a terrible tragedy. She also blessed and protected future generations she would never meet, even her own ancestor Joshua, son of Nun in the line of Ephraim.
Despite the male chauvinism of ancient cultures, God wants women to be remembered, even if they receive little Scriptural acclaim. Consider the woman who anointed Jesus with oil, upsetting the disciples, specifically Judas. Jesus said, “Wherever the Gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her” (Mark 14:9). Jesus wanted us to remember her, just like the Father remembered Sheerah.
And in her lifetime of Pharaohs, we do not remember many of their names anymore. Moses said in Exodus 14:13 “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again.” Scripture omits the names of many powerful Egyptians and their warriors, but not Sheerah.
It is also likely that Sheerah worshipped the true God, because related Scriptures support this truth. For example, in 2 Chronicles 7:17-18 God tells Solomon that if he faithfully follows Him as his father David did, then God would bless him and establish his throne. Then notice one of the ways God blessed Solomon, in the next chapter, 2 Chron. 8:5, “He fortified the towns of Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, rebuilding their walls and installing barred gates.” These are two of the cities Sheerah built. During the time when Solomon was obeying God and receiving his favor, God allowed Solomon to fortify the cities Sheerah built. Clearly God speaks about Sheerah’s cities, to show God’s favor, when an Israelite king was honoring God. And lest we think this is an anomaly, look at King Asa during the years when he was obeying God. Look at 2 Chron. 14:7, “Asa told the people of Judah, ‘Let us build towns and fortify them with walls, towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours because we sought the Lord God, and he has given us peace on every side.’ So they went ahead with these projects and brought them to completion.” God blessed his people and allowed them to build and fortify cities when they were obeying him. He did not allow this when they disobeyed. See 2 Chron.12:2a +9a “Because they were unfaithful to the Lord, King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem…So King Shishak of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem.” When Old Testament leaders honored him, God honored their building projects, but when they disobeyed, he allowed them to be attacked and have their buildings and cities destroyed.
We also know Ephraim’s family had access to great wealth, because Ephraim’s father, Joseph was the second in command in Egypt, and at that time, Egypt was the super power of the ancient world. Ephraim was half Hebrew, half Egyptian, with his father being Joseph, and his mother being the Egyptian, Asenath (Genesis 41:45). Whether Sheerah was Ephraim’s daughter or granddaughter, she would have met Joseph, because Genesis 50 tells us that Joseph lived out his days in Egypt and “saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation” (Genesis 50:22). Sheerah was influenced by her godly great-(or two times great) -grandfather Joseph.
Joseph was an Israelite who served the Living God despite spending all of his adult life in Egypt. Yet two of his grandsons (Ephraim’s sons) had gotten caught up in a crime (trying to steal other men’s cattle, though we do not know if they were the thieves or if the thieves attacked them) and had died as a result. So despite Joseph’s godly influence, his own grandsons either were thieves or suffered from thieves. Even godly people can suffer. We do not know if Joseph’s wife, Asenath, had a bad influence on the children, since she was as a daughter of the pagan priest of On, who led worship of the Egyptian sun god in Heliopolis.
Whether or not it was due to Asenath’s family influence, we do know that the tribe of Ephraim became idolaters, according to the prophet Hosea (Hosea 4:17 and Hosea 12:1.) The Assyrians took Ephraim’s tribe captive during the fall of the Northern Kingdom many generations after Sheerah’s life. But we only hear of good about Sheerah, so we can assume none of her Egyptian ancestor’s influence harmed her faith.
Some of Sheerah’s ancestors, through Ephraim’s tribe (1 Chronicles 7:27) include Nun, the father of godly Joshua, who led the Israelites after the death of Moses. So we see that Sheerah’s family had faith like that of their ancestors who trusted in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Knowing Sheerah’s family was wealthy and influential (due to Joseph being second in command in the entire nation) she had access to money. Joseph may have influenced his grand (or great-grand) daughter Sheerah, since Joseph managed large public works. He oversaw the distribution of the grain in Egypt during the famine and likely also oversaw the building of the silo’s and barns used for the initial overflow of grain during the seven years of plenty. Unlike her ancestors, she may not have had a spouse or children, because these are not mentioned in the genealogy about her. As such, her three cities may be her legacy instead of children.
We don’t know how she built three cities–as the architect, or designer, or builder or overseer of the construction of these places. Or she may have been the patron who paid to have the city built. We should also realize that Sheerah may actually have fortified pre-existing but broken down and burned out cities, making them fit for habitation. The reason comes from “banah” the verb translated to say “built” in 1 Chronicles 7:24. Banah is often used in the OT to refer to repairing and fortifying cities, even for building military fortresses (Judg 18:28; 1 Kgs 12:25, 15:17, 21, 22, 23, 16:24; 2 Kgs 14:22; 1 Chr 11:8; 2 Chr 11:5–6, 14:6–7, etc.). For the construction sites, she would need to teach and hire others to share in the responsibility. She had to manage and lead her workforce. So Sheerah must have had authority and respect. She was a leader in the tribe of Ephraim, and in Jacob’s and Rachel’s, genealogy. She was a strong women in ancient Israel.
Anyone controlling the Beth-horon cities had access to the road between them and the area around it in Israel, and this gave Sheerah and her ancestors the ability to protect the tribe of Ephraim from possible attacks from the east (as happened later, in Saul’s time, 1 Sam 13:17–18). The roads leading to her cities were considered commercial trade routes, so her city’s inhabitants would have a steady supply of money coming in. These twin cities provided the easiest route to the thriving seaports of Lebanon from the direction of Jerusalem and the prosperous Jordan Valley. So, as the cities’ builder, Sheerah controlled this vital road and could have held an important social position among the leaders of her tribe. This could also explain why she is mentioned so prominently in Ephraim’s genealogy.
Her first two cities, Upper and Lower Beth-horon (which are about 2 miles apart), now known as Bet Ur et-Takhta and Bet Ur el-Foka, show up in Joshua 10:9-11. Joshua and Israel fought five Canaanite kings, and God stopped the sun, near Beth-horon (Josh 10:10–11). Then Joshua prayed for the sun to stand still, and God did it. But why did God add the hailstones? Perhaps God granted blessings God to Sheerah’s cities. She used her name in her third city, Uzzen-sheerah. “Uzzen” can mean “ear” or “hear/listen,” and if so, perhaps her city’s name could mean “listen to Sheerah.” God could have been listening to Sheerah’s prayer for her people. This seems especially poignant, since Joshua, one of her descendants, prayed for God’s help there. Joshua later used the road from these cities to chase and attack his enemies, a coalition of southern kings (Joshua 10:10). God listened to Joshua’s prayer, tossing down large hailstones, destroying the enemy armies.
The Beth-horons were on the western side of the mountains of the region of Ephraim. The lower city was at the foot of the mountain, while the upper city was at a mountainous elevation. The road that joined the cities allowed Israelites to travel from the hill country to the coastal plain. Many battles happened in or near these cities throughout the ages, because the cities were centrally located.
After the Canaan conquest, the tribe of Ephraim received the cities of Beth-horon (Josh 16:3, 4; 18:13–14). This makes sense since they were built (banah) by an Ephraimite. These cities were borders for Ephraim’s tribe. They were near the border of Judah and the northern tribal districts along a major mountain pass. Israelites could easily access these cities, so they became cities of refuge (Josh 21:21–22). These cities could help Israelites control Canaan. As a result, Sheerah’s cities provided for her ancestors as a source of security for generations.
Sheerah may not have named the city Uzzen-sheerah after herself, but someone did, and this shows her importance. No one knows the exact location of Uzzen-sheerah although Bible scholars suggest it is at Bet Sira, a village 2 miles southwest of the Lower Beth-horon. If she had no children, this city, her namesake, became her legacy, since women of ancient Israel, did not build cities or other public works.
Old Testament women like Sheerah, show us that God honors women leaders and records some of what they did in biblical history. She is one of many strong woman of the Bible, who receive less attention. Yet God shows us he wants us to hear their stories.
Sheerah did not work in a domestic or nurturing role. Women today need to hear this, since some modern women do not marry or have children. God sees you, if you are one of them, and he honors your work. Like Sheerah, if you face society’s opposition for whatever career or life’s calling you follow for the Lord, God can help you to overcome cultural barriers through faith, vision, and perseverance.
Sheerah shows us that women can be powerful, planners, and protectors of their people, leaving enduring legacies beyond anyone else’s expectations. She and other strong women of the Bible show us that God supports women leaders in many areas, including ministry, urban development, and beyond.
Sheerah had living faith like the Apostle James describes: “Faith without good works is useless,” James 2:20. She had courage to take action, perhaps even challenging society’s norms by doing what men often did instead. She acted boldly, following God’s calling, not letting herself be limited by the male chauvinism of her day. Sheerah is a female leader in a male-dominated society, and I pray she inspires us to do whatever God calls us to do. Scriptures promise that when he calls us, he also equips us (1Cor.1:26-29 & Exodus 4:10-11.)
Sheerah’s cities lasted for centuries after her death: Two hundred fifty years after Sheerah built her cities God still protected them. Remember, banah is used for the way Sheerah “built” her city, and when Solomon fortified her cities (banah) in 1 Kings 9:17. 2 Chronicles 8:5 he only added walls and towers and bars, because she had built her cities on a firm foundation. Solomon didn’t have to relay Sheerah’s foundation. Sheerah’s cities endured through the end of the Old Testament into the era of Maccabees, more than a thousand years after she built them. The Maccabean warriors recaptured their Temple in Jerusalem from the Greeks who desecrated it. They used Sheerah’s cities as their base of operations. Even today, more than 3000 after Sheerah built her cities, we can see the foundations of Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon in the Palestinian villages Beit Ur al Fuqua and Beit Ur al Tahat.
We can trust God that men are not the only ones who can accomplish great things for him. As Galatians 3:28 says, “There is no longer male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Psalm 90:17 reminds us, “And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!” Sheerah shows us that our efforts today have eternal significance. Our lives matter to the Lord.
I pray I blessed you this week with this long yet important story of Sheerah. I want to encourage all women that our lives matter to the Lord.